NUTMEGS. 401 



at nearly right angles with the trunk, and they begin to shoot a 

 few inches above the ground. The plantation contains nearly 

 four thousand trees, and each tree yields on an average six pounds 

 of cloves a year ; they are carefully picked by hand, and then 

 dried in the shade ; we saw numbers of slaves standing on ladders 

 gathering the spice, while others were at work clearing the ground 

 of dead leaves. The whole is in the finest order, presenting a 

 picture of industry and of admirable neatness and beauty. They 

 were introduced into Zanzibar in 1818, from Mauritius, and are 

 found to thrive so well that almost everybody in the island 

 is now clearing away the cocoa nut to make way for them. The 

 clove bears in five or six years from the seed ; of course time 

 enough has not yet elapsed for the value and quantity of Zanzibar 

 cloves to be generally known ; they are worth, however, in the 

 Bombay market, about 30s. the Surat maund of 39J Ibs. ; the price 

 for Molucca cloves in the Eastern market is from 28 to 30 dollars 

 per picul of 133 Ibs. ; for those of Mauritius, 20 to 24 dollars per 

 picul." 



The average annual consumption of cloves in the United 

 Kingdom, in the four years ending 1841, was 49,000 Ibs. The 

 largest quantity of cloves imported during the past twenty-five 

 years was 1,011,171 Ibs., in 1847. The quantities imported and 

 entered for home consumption in the last five years have been as 

 follows : 



Imports. Home consumption. 



Ibs. Ibs. 



1848 117,433 126,691 



1849 274,713 133.713 



1850 749,646 159,934 



1851 253,439 138,132 



1852 313,949 175,287 



In 1848 we received 60,000 Ibs. of cloves from British India. 



THE NUTMEG, 



Myristica moschata, M~. officinalis, or aromatica. This tree is of 

 a larger growth than the clove, attaining a height of thirty feet, 

 and has its leaves broader in proportion to their length ; the upper 

 surface of these is of a bright green, the under of a greyish 

 color. It is a dioecious plant, having male or barren pale yellow 

 flowers upon one tree, and female or fertile flowers upon another. 

 The fruit is drupaceous, and opens by two valves when ripe, dis- 

 playing the beautiful reticulated scarlet arillus, which constitutes 

 mace. Within this is a hard, dark brown, and glossy shell, 

 covering the kernel, which is the nutmeg of the shops. 



The kernels of M. foment osa are also used as aromatics, under 

 the name of wild or male nutmegs. 



Lindley describes two other species, M. fatua, a native of 

 Surinam, with greenish white flowers, and M. gebifera or Virola 

 sebifera, a nat ve of Gruiana, with yellowish green flowers. 



2 D 



